The Best Beach Chair Is the Tommy Bahama Backpack Chair

Wirecutter performed beach chair testing on the beaches of California and Hawaii, and the Tommy Bahama chair came out the victor over seven competitors for its mix of durability, portability, and comfort. (No wonder the company has cornered the beach chair market.)

But my long-term testing happens at the Jersey Shore. New Jersey beaches are packed, and it’s a true blessing to toss a chair on your back and run the gauntlet of guys from Philly and New York talking loudly on their phones about whatever sportsball team or political situation they’re mad about at the moment. The padded backpack straps are comfortable even if you’re not wearing a shirt, and they distribute the weight evenly—it’s a big contrast to having to lug a chair at your side, with it banging into your leg the whole time.

While everybody else is packing like they’re trekking the Sahara, with umbrellas, coolers, and countless other supplies in tow, true sun-seekers who don’t need an umbrella (hopefully slathered in the recommended 1 ounce of decent-SPF sunscreen) will be able to fit their refreshments in the chair’s attached cooler bag, which fits six 12-ounce cans. There’s even a towel bar on the back to hang-dry your wet towel and keep it off the sand. I’ve also seen plenty of city folk using these chairs for park hangs and suburban types bringing them to their kids’ sporting events.

The chair is made out of strong polyester, and it has five seated positions (you use the armrest to adjust it), a foam-filled headrest, and padded shoulder straps. The one downside is that it sits low to the ground, which can be an accessibility challenge. As a result, we use different, higher chairs for the older adults in our family.

Wirecutter’s guide says, “the only slight complaint we had is that the frame bar running along the front of the seat can push uncomfortably against your hamstrings during a long session in the sun.” However—as the guide goes on to say—the chair is low enough to the ground that even when your legs are splayed out flat, the inconvenience of the bar is minor.

The frame is made of lightweight-but-durable, rustproof aluminum with a recommended weight limit of 300 pounds. Our pick is the version that has wooden arms, which weighs about 7.5 pounds.

“I’ve owned two wooden-armed versions of the Tommy Bahama since 2019. There’s no zipper damage on the cooler pouch or rust on the frame, and the fabric has held up incredibly well under the intense Hawaiian sun,” says senior staff writer Kit Dillon, who shot the photos shown here of his chairs on Oahu.

Tommy Bahama also has a less-expensive version that has plastic arms (often available at Costco) and a more-expensive “deluxe” version (on the Tommy Bahama site) that’s slightly larger and has an extra pouch on the armrest. While we’ve found that the wooden-armed versions are sturdier than the plastic-armed one, it all comes down to deciding what works best for you and your budget.

I finally bought enough Tommy Bahama beach chairs that my family can finally have one per person. What are we going to do with our vast collection of castoffs? We’ll probably sell them to some bargain hunters at our next garage sale.

This article was edited by Catherine Kast and Christine Ryan.